Check writer



June 2, 1936.

EVE. PHINNEYI CHECK WRITER 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 24, 1935 INVENTOREd aK E.Ph i/mey M ATTORNEY June 2, 1936. PHINNEY CHECK WRITER 7Sheets-Sheet 2 v I INVENTOR Edga/ .P7z2' /?e ML WQIATTORNEY Filed Aug.24, 1935 June 2, 1936. E. E. PHINNEY 2,042,959

CHECK WRITER Filed Aug 24, 1935 7 Sheets-Sheet :5

INVENTOR Q Egarz z. Pk infl y June 2, 1936. E. E. PHINNEY CHECK WRITERFiled Aug. 24, 1935 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR Edgar E PE ir ey IWflATTORM-ZY June 2, 1936. EfPHlNNEY. 2,042,959

CHECK WRITER Filed Aug. 24, 1935 I 7 Sheets-$heet 6 WATTORNEY June 2,1936. E E H N Y 2 ,042,959

CHECK WRITER Filed Aug. 24, 1935 7 Sheets-Sheet '7 gmmnrmrmrm 23INVENTOR WTTORNEY Patented June 2, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE2,042,959 I CHECK WRITER Application August 24, 1935, Serial No. 37,648

7 Claims.

The invention has relation to checkwriters, and more P ly to valueselecting mechanism for such machines.

The invention is designed to provide novel means for bringing typerepresenting various numeral values to the printing line according tothe values set up on digit keys of a keyboard. A further feature of theinvention is the novel arrangement 'of the digit figures and symbols onthe type bars.

Suitable means for printing foreign currency designations are alsoprovided.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination ofparts as set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention,

Fig. 1 is a right hand elevation of the machine showing the clutchcontrol means, the casing being removed.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig.6, and. showing the type slide operating means.

Fig. 3 is a transverse cross section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showingkeyboard control means.

Fig. 4 is a right hand elevation taken inside the right hand framing ofthe machine.

Fig. 5 is a detail of the check operated control switch.

Fig. 6 is a plan view, the keyboard being removed.

Fig. '7 is a plan view of the machine operating and drive means.

Fig. Bis a front elevation, the casing having been removed.

Fig. 9 is a detail of the British pounds type slide.

Fig. 10 is a bottom view of the type slides and the currency changeplate.

Type selecting mechanism The keyboard mechanism is of well known type,such, for instance, as described in Patent #1399,- 652, granted to EdgarE. Phinney on December 6, 1921, wherein any of the digit keys 1 upondepression, are held in depressed position until near the end of a cycleof operation by engagement of a notch 2 with suitable rocking bails 3.Near the end of a cycle of operation, the bails 3 will be rocked torelease the keys 1 by movement of transverse slide 4, as willhereinafter be described.

As shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 6, there is provided for each order of digitkeys 1 a plate 5, forming part of a type bar and slidably mounted uponguide frames 6 supported at their forward and rearward ends upontransverse rods 1 secured to the framing of the machine. Each of theslide plates 5 is provided with type 8 bearing numerals and symbols, asindicated in Figs. 2 and 10, adapted to be brought to the printing linein the fol- 5 lowing manner. Plates 5 are each provided with aprojection 9 adapted to cooperate with any of the depressed digit keysfrom 1 to 4 of the related column, and a projection l0 adapted tocooperate with the depressed digit keys 5 to 9, the keys act- 10 ing asstops, to limit rearward movement of the related plates 5. As indicatedin Fig. 2, by arranging the projection 9 of slide 5, normally a fullstep of movement in front of digit key 1 and the projection In of saidslide a half step of move- 15 ment in front of digit key 5 and byalternating the figures of the series 1-4 and 5-9 on the type bar, it ispossible to reduce the total movement of slide plate 5 to approximatelyone half the total digit key spacing. Also by allowing the full ex- 20tent of movement of the slide 5, that is until the surface ll, thereofengages frame l2, to bring the zero type to the printing line, the startype may be placed in the usual normal zero position, thus it ispossible to have eleven characters on the type 25 bar, adapted to becontrolled according to the setting of but nine digit keys, as will morefully be described.

Pivotally mounted at l3 and extending longitudinally beneath each columnof digit keys 1 are 30 arms l4, each of said arms being provided with aprojection l5, lying in the path of projection l6 of the related slideplate 5 and forming a latch, so that the plates are held in normalposition in any columns in which no keys have been depressed. Depressionof a digit key will, however, rock arm M of the corresponding orderdownwardly, moving projection l5 downwardly out of the path of movementof projection l6, whereupon slide 5 will be free to move rearwardly to aposition determined by the depressed key.

Manual operating means All of the slide plates 5 are normally held intheir forward positions by means of a restoring 45 bar 11, slidablymounted upon guide frame l8 and extending transversely across therearward end of slides 5. Bar l! is urged forwardly under influence ofits spring 19, secured at 20 to the forward arm of said bar, the forwardmovement be- 50 ing limited by engagement of projection 2| with thetransverse frame I2 (Figs. 2 and 6).

The operator having placed a check in printing position, between theguides 22 (Fig. l), and having set up the amount desired on thekeyboard, 55

depresses operating key 23 to initiate a printing cycle of operation, asfollows:

Pivotally mounted up on the framing at 24 is a latch plate 25 normallyholding the clutch pawl 26 (pivoted at 21 upon disc 28, fast to shaft28) out of engagement with the teeth of notched disc 38. Notched disc 38is loosely mounted upon shaft 29 and has drive connections with themotor, through gears 3|, 32, 33, 34 and 35. Plate 25 is normally heldengaged with pawl 26, against tension of spring 36, by engagement oflatch arm 3'! (pivotally mounted at 38 to latch 25) with red 39extending through the right hand frame of the machine.

Upon depression of key 23; pawl 4|) pivotally mounted at 4| upon arearwardy extending arm of said key and having engagement with aprojection 42 of latch arm 3'! will rock said latch free of rod 39,whereupon plate 25, under influence of spring 38 will be rockedcounterclockwise as seen in Fig. l releasing pawl 26, and allowingsaidspawlunder influence of its spring. 43 to: engage notched disc- 38.

East to latch plate 25; is a. pin 44 extending laterally through an.orifice 45 of a switch operating arm. (Fig. 4) slidably mounted uponstud 41 of the frame. During the above described movement of latch plate25, pin lid-will move arm rearwardly causing. the insulated roller 28,.

mounted. thereon to close the contacts 49 f the motor switch 58. tostartthe motor and impart, through the previously described gear train, aclockwise rotative. movement to the notched disc 38 and, throughengagement of pawl 26 with said disc,.the. plate 28 and shaft. 29;

Securedto the shaft 29 is a camel (Figs. 2 and 7) adapted. bycooperation with a roller 52 to impart clockwise movement to anoscillating arm 53, pivotally mountedat. 54 upon a support member. 55.Oscillating arm 53 has connection, through link. 56 and flexible chain57, with the restoring. frame I! as shown in Figs. 2 and 6, so thatrotation. of cam willpull restoring frame ll rearwardly against tensionof spring i9.

Each of the type barslides 5 has yieldable spring connection 58 with theframe H, and as said frame. is. drawn rearwardly, slide plates 5, (inthose columns wherein a key has been depressed) under influence of saidsprings, will be caused to move rearwardly until stopped by engagementof the projection 9 or projection Ill-with the related depressed key,thus bringing the corresponding value typeto the printing line. In thosecolumns to the left of the highest order digit key which has beendepressed,.projection Ifi of slides 5 will contact projection |5 of armsI l preventing movement of the higher order slides 5 and holding thestars in position at the printing line.

In order to bring the zero type into printing position. in those columnsto the right of .the lowest order digit key which has been depressed,arms M are provided with projections 59, (Figs. 2 and 3) overlappingeach the next lower order arm. There are no arms |4 provided in theunits of dollars column or in the cents value columns, there being nostar type for these columns. The type bars in these columns always moveto the zero position if no key is depressed.

During the time roller 52 rides the concentric dwell of the high pointof cam 5|, cam 88, secured to shaft 29, will rock the platen 5! againstthe type, to print the desired value. Near the end of the cycle ofoperation roller 52' is allowed to move to the low portion of cam 5|,releasing arm 53, whereupon spring |9 will return frames ll to theirforward position, restoring the type bar plates 5 to normal position.

The printing operation having been completed, a pin 52 (Fig. 4) fast toa cam plate 63, rotatable with shaft 29, will engage and rock a lever 64downwardly about its fulcrum 6'5 to retract the projection 65 of an arm9| beneath the level of check support. plate 67, thus. freeing thecheck, whereupon. said check, under influence of roller 68', havingsuitable drive connections with the motor, will be ejected from themachine.

Near the end of the cycle of operation, pin 62 will; engage surface 68of a lever 10, fulcrumed at H, and. rock said lever clockwise as viewedin Fig. 4. Upon clockwise movement of lever 10, roller 12, mounted uponthe forward end thereof, will engage lever 13, rocking said levercounterclockwise about fulcrum 14, thus rocking lever 15 to providelateral displacement of clearing slide 4 (Fig. 3), by means of a bellcrank lever similar to that described in Patent #1,432,616, issued toEdgar-E. Phinneyon October 1'7, 1922.' Suitable repeat key mechanism isprovided, adapted to render lever 15 inoperative, also a clear: out key,as fully set forth in the above-mentioned patent.

Keyboardlocking meansisprov-ided comprising the cam. plate 63, adaptedby cooperation. with roller. 1.6: of. arm. Hi to. rock. shaft H.clockwise.

Secured toi theleft handend of shaft (Figs.- 2, 3 and '7) is an arm 18provided with an em-- bossedportion .18. adaptediby'the above describedmovement of said arm .to be brought. intorelation.

with looking. slide- 80, thus preventing. lateral movement. of. said.slide. Slide 88 is. provided with projections 8|, cooperating with keylocking.

bails 3: to lock-keys 1. in raised position.

Near the end of a cycle of operation pivot stud 2% (Fig. 1.) of disc. 28engages projection 82 of latch plate 25,.restoring. said plateto normalposition and bringing the projection 83 thereof into the path. ofmovement of pawl 26 to disengage said pawl from the driving member 3a..Restoring of latch plate 25 carries latch arm.3'| forwardly, said armunder influence of its spring 84 rocking about point. 38., returningto-its normal position behindrod 39iand into engagement with pawl 40.

During the excursionof. frame IT, a roller l8? mounted. thereon will:operate the usual ribbon feed mechanism.

Automatic'ch'eclc controlled operating means While the manually operatedkey 23 is provided to be used if desired, an operating cycle of themachine is normally initiated by insertion of the check into themachine.

For key control. operation the. projection 85 (Fig. 5) of slide 86 isadjusted to a position opposite projection 68 of arm 9|, so that saidarm cannot rock laterally when a check is inserted from the left handside of the machine. For check control operation, however, slide 86, ismanually set to the position shown in Fig 5, wherein projection 85 ismoved forward of projection 66. As a check" is inserted into printingposition between the guides 22 andbeneathroller 68 the forwarde'dge ofthe check engages pro-- jection 85' and rocks arm 8| to cause insulatedroller 81, mounted on said arm, to'engage'contacts 88 of switch 89, saidswitch constituting circuit means toa solenoid 90 (Figs. 1 and 7)..Engagement of contacts 88 of switch 89 will cause solenoid 90 tobecome'energized, withdrawing the plunger rod 38 laterallyi'awayfromlatch arm 31, releasing said latch and thus the latch plate 25,

allowing said plate under influence of its sprin 36 to release clutchpawl 26, initiating the printing cycle in the manner previouslydescribed. During that portion of the cycle, following the printingaction, the pin 62 in contacting arm 64 rocks said arm and, throughprojection 93, the arm 9I downwardly about its pivot point 94, releasingthe check, said check being ejected by action of roller 68 as waspreviously described.

Foreign currency type plate As shown in Fig. 10 a type plate 95,slidably mounted in the frame I2, is adapted to be moved longitudinallyby means of thumb lever 96 to bring one of the series of word typeopposite the printing line, plate 95 being held in set position by meansof spring plunger 91 engaging one of the series of notches 98 of theguide rod 99. The word type plate bears the usual notations Not over,Dollars, Cents for United States currency and the correspondinglyterminology for foreign currency in other longitudinal positions. Withthe exception of the British currency system, the order of the typerelative to plate 95 is immaterial. The British currency type is,however, as shown in Fig. 10, placed in the rearward position relativeto plate 95. This is necessary to provide for a 12th character, namelythe British currency pounds symbol, to be placed upon the type bar inthe third right hand order column. The pounds symbol is adapted to bebrought into printing position as plate 95 is moved to British currencyposition in the following manner:

As the plate 95 is moved to its extreme forward position, bringing theBritish currency late into printing line, the forward end I00 of guiderod 99 will engage the surface of projection IOI of a compound leverI02, fulcrumed on transfer shaft I03, rocking said lever counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 9. Secured to the type plate I05 related tothe third right hand column, is a pin I04 and as lever I02 is rocked, asabove described, the surface I06 of said lever will engage pin I04carnming slide I05 forwardly, bringing the pound symbol into printingposition.

I claim:

1. In a checkwriter, the combination with a row of depressible digitkeys, of a type bar extending beneath said keys and provided with twoprojections each adapted to contact with any depressed one of a seriesof keys of said row, said projections being so spaced as to registeralternately with keys of the one and the other series as said slidemoves from one extreme adjusted position to the other, a row of digittype spaced on said bar at intervals of half the extent of the intervalsbetween the digit keys, and means for moving said type bar into contactwith a depressed key.

2. In a checkwriter, the combination with a row of depressible digitkeys, said row representing digits of uniformly progressive value, of atype bar extending beneath said keys and provided with two projectionseach adapted to contact with any depressed one of a series of keys ofsaid row, said projections being so spaced as to register alternatelywith keys of the one and the other series as said slide moves from oneextreme adjusted position to the other, a row of digit type on said bar,alternate type of the row representing digits of uniformly progressivevalue, and means for moving said type bar into contact with a depressedkey.

3. In a checkwriter, the combination with a row of depressible digitkeys, a type bar including means slidable beneath said keys and adaptedto contact with any depressed key of said row, whereby said bar isdifferentially located, and a row of digit type on said bar; of anon-value symbol type located on said bar at one end of the row of digittype, a zero type located on said bar at the opposite end of said row,means for holding the type bar in adjustment with the symbol type at theprinting line, a fixed stop for the bar adapted to locate the zero typeat the printing line, and means for releasing said type bar and movingit to effect contact with a depressed digit key or alternatively withsaid fixed stop.

4. In a checkwriter, the combination with ordinal rows of depressibledigit keys, type bars including means slidable beneath the keys of eachrow and adapted to contact with any depressed key of said row, wherebysaid bar is differentially located, and a row of digit type on each saidbar; of non-value symbol type located on said bars at one end of the rowof digit type, zero type located on said bars at the opposite end ofsaid row, fixed stops adapted to locate the zero type at the printingline, springs adapted to move said type bar against said stop, latchesadapted to hold the non-value type at the printing line, against thetension of said springs, said latches being each displaceable by adepressed key, and offset lugs on said latches, overlying each andadapted to displace the latch of lower order.

5. In a checkwriter, the combination with a row of depressible digitkeys, a type bar including means slidable beneath said keys and adaptedto contact with any depressed key of said row, whereby said bar isdifierentially located, a row of digit type on said bar, a springadapted to move said type bar into contact with a depressed key, and alatch adapted to hold the bar against the tension of said spring; of anon-value symbol type on said bar, and means manually settable to adjustsaid type bar away from the latch and against the tension of its springand to hold the symbol type at the printing line.

6. In a checkwriter, the combination with ordinal rows of depressibledigit keys, type bars including means slidable beneath the keys of eachrow and adapted to contact with any depressed key of said row, wherebysaid bar is differentially located, a row of digit type on each saidbar, means for holding each type bar as located, and means operable torelease and relocate all of said bars simultaneously; of a type plateprovided with rows of non-value type, separated by certain of said typebars, and means manually settable to adjust said type plate and to holdselected non-value type at the printing line, independently of thereleasing means.

'7. In a checkwriter, the combination with ordinal rows of depressibledigit keys, type bars including means slidable beneath the keys of eachrow and adapted to contact with any depressed key of said row, wherebysaid bar is differentially located, and a row of digit type on each saidbar; of a non-value symbol type on one of said bars, a type plateprovided with rows of nonvalue type, and means manually settable to adjust said type plate and to hold selected nonvalue type at the printingline, including an element adapted, upon movement of said plate to oneextreme position of adjustment, to move and hold the symbol type at theprinting line.

EDGAR EILSWORTH PHINNEY.

